These are privately owned and operated companies that perform genetic testing and ancestry matches with obscure policies on access to critical DNA information, including access for law enforcement matters without a warrant.

Data from the Innocence Project reveals that nearly a third of DNA exonerations involved false confessions.” “The threat of the ‘trial penalty’ can make pleading guilty seem like the only rational choice, even for someone who is innocent.” “When attorneys and judges approach confessions and pleas with skepticism, empathy, and a commitment to accuracy, the criminal legal system moves closer to its promise of justice for all.”

In the United States, we pride ourselves on the notion that an individual is innocent until proven guilty. However, wrongful convictions...

Every hour, every person sheds 200,000,000 skin cells . Each of those cells holds a person's deoxyribonucleic acid —or, “DNA”— the...